Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has issued governance guidance to local authorities on whether a sitting Chairman or civic Mayor can preside over, and participate in, a Full Council debate and vote, where there is a motion for the annual Full Council to re-appoint that Chairman or civic Mayor for another year, including any guidance on the application of the case law of R v Owens (1858) to modern day Annual Council selection meetings.

Local authority governance arrangements are a matter for councils themselves, operating within the statutory framework set by the Local Government Act 1972.